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Description

It's a Funny Thing, Humour contains the papers presented at the International Conference on Humor and Laughter, held in Cardiff in July 1976. The symposium provides a platform from which authors from different professional and personal background can talk about their own definition and analysis of humor.
The book is structured into 10 main sections that reflect the structure of the conference and presents various studies and research on the nature of humor and laughter. Contributions range from theoretical discussions to practical and experimental expositions. Topics on the psychoanalytical theory of humor and laughter; the nature and analysis of jokes; cross-cultural research of humor; mirth measurement; and humor as a tool of learning are some of the topics covered in the symposium.
Psychologists, sociologists, teachers, communication experts, psychiatrists, and people who are curious to know more about humor and laughter will find the book very interesting and highly amusing.

Table of Contents

Preface
Foreword
I. Essays on the Nature of Humor, Laughter and Comedy
If Hamlet Had a Sense of Humor
The Psychoanalytic Theory of Humor and Laughter
Humor as a Tool of Social Interaction
American Humor and the Spirit of the Times
The Appeasement Function of Mirthful Laughter
A Model of the Origins and Early Development of Incongruity-Based Humor
Elephants and Marshmallows: A Theoretical Synthesis of Incongruity Resolution and Arousal Theories of Humor
Cognitive and Disparagement Theories of Humor: A Theoretical and Empirical Synthesis
Operationalization of Incongruity in Humor Research: A Critique and Suggestions
Humor as a Form of Social Control: A Deviance Approach
Black Humor in the Modern Cartoon
Verbal Jokes as De-transformed Utterances and as Speech Acts
The Psycho-Logic of Political Humor
The Great Screen Clowns and the Development of World Cinema
The Art of Revue: Further Emphases for the Psychology of Humor
II. Approaches to the Study of Humor
Psychological Approaches to the Study of Humor
Humor and the Theory of Psychological Reversals
Some Characteristics of Resting Respiration as Predictors of Laughter
Mirth Measurement: A New Technique
The Logic of Humor and the Humor in logic
From Joseph Grimaldi to Charlie Cairoli: A Semiotic Approach to Humor
Comic Mythos and Children's Literature - Or, out of the Frying Pan and into the Pyre
Approaches to the Study of Humor: Discussion
III. Humor as a Form of Therapy
Humor As a Form of Therapy: Introduction to Symposium
The Essential Ambiguity Of, and in, Humor
The Sense of Humor: Actualizer of Persons and Theories
The Use of Jokes in Psychotherapy
The Place of Humor in Adult Psychotherapy
Humor, Irony and Self-Detachment
The Use and Abuse of Humor in the World of the Family: Current Trends in America
Humor in Psychotherapy
IV. Cross-cultural Humor
Cross-Cultural Research: Humor Here and There
A Cross-Cultural Study of the Structure of Humor
Magnificent Liars: Exaggeration in American Humor
Play and Ritual: Complementary Frames of Meta-Communication
Social Occasions for Joking: A Cross-Cultural Study
V. Children's Humor
Children's Humor: A Review of Current Research Trends
Measuring Effects of Incongruity and Resolution in Children's Humor
Humor in Children Related to Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development
Birth Order and Humor Responsiveness in Young Children
A Developmental Analysis of Children's Favorite Jokes
Developmental Levels in Explanations of Humor From Childhood to Late Adolescence
Comprehension and Emotional Adhesion in the Genetics of Humor
Children's Humor: Discussion
VI. Ethnic Humor
Ethnic Humor: From Paradoxes Towards Principles
Context and Ethnic Humor in Intergroup Relations
The Mass Media and the Functions of Ethnic Humor in a Racist Society
Vicarious Superiority, Injustice, and Aggression in Humor: The Role of the Playful 'Judgmental Set'
Ethnic Humor is No Joke
Ethnic Humor as a Function of Social-Normative Incongruity and Ego-Involvement
An Irony of Irony: The Left-Handed Insult in Intra-group Humor
Ethnic Humor: Discussion
VII. Humor and Communication
Humor and Communication: Introduction
Tendentious Humor in the Mass Media
The Changing Stereotype of the Welsh in English Jokes
Humor In Situ: The Role of Humor in Small Group Culture
Development Aspects of Humor and Laughter in Young Adolescent Girls
Tracking the Intractable - The Analysis of Humor in the Study of Value Systems
Degree of Hostility in Squelches as a Factor in Humor Appreciation
The Function of Humor in the Classroom
Humor and Communication: Discussion
VIII. Individual Differences in Humor
Individual Differences, Personality and Humor Appreciation: Introduction to Symposium
Conceptual Tempo as an Individual Difference Variable in Children's Humor Development
Ecological Determinants of Gleeful Behaviors in Two Nursery School Environments
Sex Differences in Children's Responses to Humor
Sex-Role Attitudes, Sex Differences, and Comedians' Sex
Female Responses to Chauvinist Humor
A Genetic Analysis of Humor Preferences
Individual Differences in Humor: Discussion
IX. The World of Comedy
The World of Comedy: Introduction to Symposium
Laughter and 3oking - The Structural Axis
A Structural Approach to Humor in Farce
Uses and Abuses of Canned Laughter
Funny Ha Ha or Funny Peculiar
Humor as a System of Communication
X. Further Studies on Humor and Laughter
Favorite Jokes of Children and Their Dynamic Relation to Intra-Familial Conflicts
Humor and Fairy Tales: Quests for Wider Worlds
Nonverbal Communication Among Friends and Strangers Sharing Humor
The Effects of Humor on the Flow of Social Conversation
Suppression of Adult Laughter: An Experimental Approach
Sex Differences in Humor Appreciation: A Question of Conformity?
Teasing and Joking in Isolated Societies
Environmental Conditions Affecting the Humor Response: Developmental Trends
Vulgarity in Humor
The Measurement of Humor Appreciation
An Anatomical and Psychological Examination of Eye-Pouches
Perception of Computer-Drawn Animated-Movie Smiles
Perception of Equally-Different Computer-Drawn Mirth-Like Schematic Faces
Laughter in the Basement
A Designed Locale for Laughter to Reinforce Community Bonds
Culture Bias in Attitudes to Humor
The Fool and His World, as Exemplified in the Fool of the Tarot Pack
Humor Among the Au Pairs
Humor and the Deprived Child
Humor as a Facilitator of Learning in Primary School Children
XI. Humor, Laughter and Comedy: A Bibliography of Empirical and Non-empirical Analyses in the English Language
Addendum
XII. Conference Contributors

About the Editor

Antony J. Chapman

Hugh C. Foot

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